Holmens Rock 2013: Saturday

It rained all the way up to Gothenburg and I feared that the bad weather was going to keep constant all day and night. Luckily the rain stopped when I came to Gothenburg. I headed over to the area right away, and I was lucky that I had been there before because there were no signs on where people should go and no sign to where the festival was held. Finally a photographer came along and we kept each other company while we waited. His friend showed us to the entrance and we finally got our passes. The place the festival was held at is called City Arena and hosts a go-kart course and at the pier there is an STCC (car race) lane. The place doesn’t look anything like it did when I was at Metaltown. We walked over to the STCC lane and came to lounge tables and people just eating and having a good time. We had to walk through a house to get to the stage and inside the house a DJ was blasting disco music?! It felt a bit weird to have a disco DJ and a fancy lounge at a rock festival. We sat down in the lounge in order to wait before it was time for us to head to the stage and in front of us sat sat a bunch of guys that ordered in champagne. The stage was placed in the middle of the race track so everyone had to walk over it on a fenced path. Merchandise and hamburgers were sold and soon was it time for the first band out onto the court. The weather had cleared up and a brave sun lit up the day.

Siphon Fuel

Everyone besides the singer came out on stage and the band kicked off their first song. After the intro, the singer showed up and they played two songs before the singer thanked the crowd. The singer said that “we are Siphon Fuel and we’re very happy to be opening the festival and we’re from Gothenburg.” He said he saw family and friends in the audience and that it was going to be really fun to perform this day. The band consisted of five young guys that played metal/hardrock in the veins of Accept and AC/DC.

A cover of “Damage Case” by Motorhead followed and every one at the front of the stage except for the singer ran around the stage most of the time. The sound system worked really good but the smoke machine had gone crazy. In the middle of one song the bass player disappeared from the stage and showed up in the photo pit. A band friend lifted him up on his shoulders and together went they out in the crowd. The singer thanked everyone for their support and said to the guitarist that was taken off his shirt that he had to hurry up. The last song was “Fuel Her Up” taken from the debut album BUCKLE UP and that song ended the 30 minutes the band had to play for. As soon as the band went off stage, the crowd also went away from the track.

What Siphon Fuel did was an ordinary show that didn’t impress me. They did what they should, but it wasn’t my cup of tea. So now it was time for one of my all time heroes – Electric Boys. I knew already from the start that they were going to put on a really good show. It didn’t take the crew long to prepare the stage for Electric Boys and shortly it was time to see the Swedish funk-o-metal kings.

Electric Boys

The smoke machine went on as soon as music started to play and from the mist appeared the band members. “The House Is Rocking” was the first song out and the crowd gave the band a warm welcome. The members are:

Conny Blom – lead vocals, guitar

Andy Christell – bass

Franco Santunione – guitar

Niklas Sigevall – drums

“Father Popcorns Magic Oysters” followed and Bloom looked really cool in his huge sunglasses that he shortly threw off. Bloom thanked us for the warm welcome and for the support and asked if the crowd was feeling good. He said that this song was maybe one that we recognized and he kicked off “Groovus Maximus”. That song sure made even the most reluctant fan clap their hands. “Knee Deep In You” followed and the band literally drew over the fans with their amazing funk metal music. Bloom changed guitars and fired off “Electric”. The song turned into a minor jam session when Bloom and Santunione took over the stage. Bloom said that the next song was about having no money, and that song was “Rags To Riches”. Bloom invited the crowd to sing the chorus. Even though there were more people there to see Electric Boys than Siphon Fuel, there weren’t many people there.

“Captain Of My Soul” followed and then Bloom changed guitar and played the intro to the band biggest hits “All Lips N Hips”. As always was it sing a long in the middle of the song and Bloom repeated it until he was satisfied. That song also ended the show and Bloom said they wanted to play more but that they were out of time. So they thanked the crowd and walked off.

Electric Boys gave proof of that they still are the undisputed kings of funk metal and I thought the set list was brilliant. It was sad though that not more people came to see them. However did they impress me. It was really sad though that the organizers had put them so early during the day and that they got so short play time.

Set list

The House Is Rocking

Father Popcorns Magic Oysters

Groovus Maximus

Knee Deep In You

Electrified

Rags To Riches

Captain Of My Soul

All Lips N Hips

As soon as the show was over, almost all of the people went up to the restaurant area only a few people stayed put at the festival area. The next band on the agenda was Bourbon Boys which is led by the singer of the Swedish industrial metal act Raubtier. From what I have heard from friends, they play diesel powered country rock’n’roll and who can resist that mash up of genres? At the beginning of 2013, the band released their debut album SHOTGUN, TRUCKS AND CATTLE. Contrary to Raubiter, the Bourbon Boys sing in English so I was kind of exited to both hear and see the band.

A backdrop with the band name was hung on stage by the crew but besides that were there nothing much at all at the stage. It took the crew about 30 minutes to prepare the stage for Bourbon Boys, during that time hadn’t many people come to see the band.

Bourbon Boys

The members came in one by one and played a song before the singer, Hulkoff, introduced the band and said that it was time to play some redneck rock’n’roll. The band consists of the entire Raubtier plus one and the members are:

Hulkoff – lead vocals, guitar

Jonas Kjellgren – guitar

Matt Buffalo – drums

Kenneth Seil – bass

“Rattlesnake”, “Hell Fire” and “Pour Some Bourbon Me” followed and Hulkoff then dedicated the song “Rock n Rollin Man”. He also dedicated “Beast of Bourbon” to the audience and to everyone who likes liquor. Hulkoff joked around just as much as he does in Raubtier. Both the sound system as the smoke machine worked as well as for the earlier bands and the person who was in charge of the smoke machine should have taken a bit easier. Even though Gothenburg is located by the sea, and the winds can be a bit heavy, most of the smoke stayed put on stage and made the bands invisible from time to time. Hulkoff said that the band is currently recording a new album and they wanted to treat the festival and the fans with some new songs. The first single was called “Don’t Tread On Me”. The band had a good time on stage and the music was actually pretty good with a lot of energy and vitality.

The people that stood in front of the stage seemed to enjoy the music and clapped and cheered for the band. 40 minutes went by fast and suddenly was it time for the band to end the show. The clock had turned 7.30 and the fans saluted the band to a great show. I was really impressed by the band and I really liked the show. Maybe I’ll have to buy myself a Bourbon Boys album. And again, as soon as the show was over the audience disappeared back to the restaurant to continue to eat and drink.

The next band was scheduled to be on stage 30 minutes later so I had a few minutes to rest my feet. My impression so far about the festival was divided. The line-up was great but why so short of a playing time for every band? The restaurant and the lounge felt like it was misplaced, why put a restaurant at a rock festival? And it wouldn’t have hurt to put a second stage so that the audience didn’t have to wait in between bands. The area went also quiet and there was no music played in between the sets. Nothing happened in the pauses between the bands.